The Impact of Television on Very Young Children

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Most very young American children (under 3 years) now spend a great deal of time in the presence of electronic media, particularly television. The typical American family has a TV set in use about 6 to 7 hours a day and 40% of parents of very young children say that the TV set is on "most" or "all" of the time. A distinction can be made between "foreground" and "background" television. Foreground television consists of programs that are made for young children and to which they pay substantial attention. Background television, on the other hand, is programming made for older children or adults, largely incomprehensible to young children and to which they pay little attention. In this project, Dr. Daniel Anderson studies the impact of foreground television programming that is designed to enhance parent-child interactions in order to determine whether such enhancement actually occurs. Dr. Anderson also studies the impact of background television on children's play behavior and on parent-child interactions. Based on prior NSF-supported research, this project tests the hypothesis that background television is a disruptive influence. More specifically, these studies determine whether the disruption is primarily due to distraction by the audio versus the video components of background television; is due to certain types of programs; and whether large-format, high-definition background television is more disruptive than standard television.Because many American infants and toddlers spend large amounts of time in the presence of television, it is essential to understand television's impact. If background television has a disruptive impact on children's behavior and on parent-child interactions, parents can be counseled to reduce their children's exposure to television in the background. Foreground television, which is directed at infants and toddlers, has been greatly increasing, particularly in the form of "baby videos" marketed to parents. To this point, no research has shown that baby videos have a positive effect on development. If appropriately designed foreground television can enhance parent-child interactions, then television may be able to play a useful role in very young children's development.